Oral History Theory

Working with different temporalities: archived life history interviews and diaries

“…By asking Bob to talk about his past life, we cannot ignore the fact that how he recalls events and circumstances, and the way he tells his story is very much determined by his present context and the intersubjectivity of the interview. His accounts will also reflect past and current cultural values that inform, inflect and affect what he draws on from his past (Abrams, 2010). Seeing the present in the past, from accounts given, is a familiar analytical strategy but what we had not appreciated, until we looked at the diary and interview data together, was how, by virtue of a focus on daily living and current events, the diaries present a more embodied sense of the individual than is evident in the interview data.…”

Learning to gamble in changing sociocultural contexts: experiences of Finnish casual gamblers

“…The data resemble oral history (see Abrams, 2010) but are collected in writing. Scholars define the theme in an open call for participation, which typically includes exemplary questions or discussion topics for guidance but leaves the choice of focus to the respondents.…”

Remaking the Fighting Man. Martial Masculinity and the British Army’s Command Depots, 1915–1918

“…The interviews are interesting and compelling sources of information but are also, as Lynn Abram's work on oral history theory has pointed out, sources of 'signification, interpretation and meaning' . 53 The Imperial War Museum interviews are therefore a particularly rich source that offers an insight into the ways that individual men responded to the experience of battlefield injury and to the processes of military care-giving through the medium of the Command Depot system. Michael Roper complements his examination of the 'autobiographical' by acknowledging the range of other influences affecting conventions of masculine conduct for the Edwardians.…”